The offenders register: top reasons for going off-policy
Travellers will always look for the quickest and easiest option. Travel is an emotive subject within most companies. Ego can get wrapped up in travel and its status, too.
Some executives feel bad behaviour is justified because their trips deliver significant returns for a business.
There will always be offenders because of the personal gain that is at stake. Executives have expectations – these come from either jobs in the past or better times when travel budgets were more generous.
When travel plans go wrong it is not uncommon to see all sorts of things booked off-policy at ‘whatever it costs’ to get the job done.
It may not be the big-ticket items, such as flights and hotels, that top the register but unseen ‘other expenses’, and these can vary dramatically between travellers.
How to deal with bad behaviour
It is always about compromise and flexibility within limits. When travelling executives are empowered and make their own choices they are less likely to behave badly.
Creating personalised travel policies that cater for employee preferences can help. You have to justify as a business how much money you are willing to accept in lost savings as a result of executives’ bad behaviour.
Travel managers always need to work on communicating the benefits of a travel programme.
A director with great expectations
ONE EXECUTIVE WAS APPOINTED AS A NEW DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RESOURCES. He had come from another company where the travel budgets were a lot more generous – for instance, at his previous company, this traveller’s status allowed him to travel in business class. However, in his new role, the client’s travel policy stated that his only option would be premium economy. The executive was a little savvier than the travel manager, realising that if he made really late bookings for his meetings overseas he knew that, more often than not, a late booking request or a late change would mean that only a business class seat was available and the only option would be to book that seat. Hey presto – he managed to travel business class a lot of the time. The overall impact was an increase in average ticket price on long-haul travel back to the company’s US headquarters.
MANAGING THE PROBLEM If you are used to being able to experience business class because of your status and then suddenly this is no longer an option for you, it will drive bad behaviour. A compromise had to be found and the company now has a policy addendum that allows this individual to travel in business class overnight on the return leg from North America, provided the fare is not more than 25 per cent more expensive than the policy fare. This is where compromise comes in – most travellers accept a settlement as a positive gesture from their employer, while appreciating the need to address costs. On this occasion, the company got the balance absolutely right. Wayne Lappage, global strategic business manager, Corporate Travel Management
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
The rogue traveller
A SENIOR DIRECTOR FOR A UK TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS liked to book online when he could to “save the agent fee”. One trip he booked himself was a return to Paris, but, unfortunately, didn’t check the actual arrival airport and ended up a distance outside of the capital. He then had to hire a car to drive to his actual destination. His return journey was from the same airport so he had the lengthy drive back as well. There was a cost to his company, including his time and additional money for the car rental. The same traveller booked into a hotel
en route to a meeting in Europe with an overnight on the way. He decided to change his flight to go on a more expensive direct flight – out of policy, of course – but forgot to cancel his hotel. When he returned to the airport to fly back the flight was full and his seat had been cancelled due to the no-show on the outward flight. Not a smart move.
MANAGING THE PROBLEM There was not much that could be done. The company managed to get the hotel to waive the no-show fee, but it still had the cost of the cancellation fee on his original ticket and a new, one-way flight back on the next flight. Cost savings, guidance and traveller tracking are important and that wasn’t achieved here. Tracey Beveridge, head of UK opera- tions, Wings Travel Management
You need to drill down into the reasons behind why travellers are not compliant with a programme and missing savings. Many times travel managers don’t realise they need to work on communicating the benefits of a travel programme. It’s about education. Nigel Turner, senior director of pro- gramme management, Carlson Wagonlit
BBT September/October 2016 53
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